OpenAI's Navier-Stokes Solution Sparks Credit Controversy
OpenAI announced that its AI agents solved the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems, but the achievement is overshadowed by accusations of uncredited use of other researchers' work. NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster and Anthropic employee Levent Alpöge had spent nearly a year working on the problem using publicly available AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic. Buckmaster posted a proof for a simplified version on Mastodon on Monday, and OpenAI presented a proof for the full equations today. OpenAI denies using Buckmaster and Alpöge's work without credit, but Buckmaster's document detailing interactions with OpenAI employees suggests otherwise. The solution was achieved by running about 10,000 agents concurrently at a cost of millions of dollars, resources unavailable to most academic mathematicians. This raises concerns about the future of mathematics, as AI companies with vast resources may dominate problem-solving, potentially diminishing the collaborative and generative process of human mathematical research. Terence Tao warned that premature AI solutions without transparency could harm the field. The controversy highlights issues of credit, transparency, and the role of human mathematicians in an AI-driven era.
Key facts
- OpenAI claims to have solved the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, a Millennium Prize Problem.
- The solution was achieved using an internal AI model running about 10,000 agents concurrently at a cost of millions of dollars.
- NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster and Anthropic employee Levent Alpöge had worked on the problem for almost a year using publicly available AI models.
- Buckmaster posted a proof for a simplified version of the Navier-Stokes equations on Mastodon on Monday.
- OpenAI presented a proof for the full Navier-Stokes equations today.
- Buckmaster alleges OpenAI used his and Alpöge's work without credit; OpenAI denies the accusations.
- The approach used by both teams was pioneered by mathematicians Diego Córdoba and Luis Martínez-Zoroa.
- OpenAI does not plan to claim the million-dollar prize for solving the problem.
- Terence Tao expressed concerns about the impact of AI solving problems without transparency.
- The controversy raises questions about the future of mathematics and the role of human mathematicians.
Entities
Artists
- Tristan Buckmaster
- Levent Alpöge
- Sébastien Bubeck
- Mark Chen
- Diego Córdoba
- Luis Martínez-Zoroa
- Javier Gómez-Serrano
- Terence Tao
- Pete Hegseth
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Sam Altman
- Libby Klinner
- Alex Klinner
- Mazie Hirono
- Tammy Duckworth
- Joel Valdez
- Andrew Bosworth
- Kevin Weil
- Missy Cummings
- Adam Mosseri
- Matt Stoller
- Sebastien Bubeck
- Lina Khan
- Ken Paxton
- Luis
- Diego
- Fefferman
- Donald Trump
- Joe Rogan
- Joe Biden
- Tucker Carlson
- Gavin Newsom
- Kamala Harris
- Josh Shapiro
- Marco Rubio
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Satya Nadella
- Michael Burry
- Jensen Huang
- Alex Karp
- David Sacks
- Masayoshi Son
- Larry Ellison
- Elon Musk
- Nat Wilson Turner
- Simon Willison
- Anil Madhavapeddy
- Sebastian Bubeck
Institutions
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- NYU
- Clay Mathematics Institute
- Brown University
- MIT Technology Review
- Meta
- US Air Force
- Congress
- Senate Armed Services Committee
- Pentagon
- US Central Command
- Defense Casualty Analysis System
- Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation
- Army Reserve
- Detachment 201
- Executive Innovation Corps
- George Mason University
- Anduril
- New York University
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Snap
- The Telegraph
- AOL
- Associated Press
- The Hill
- ABC News
- Forbes
- TechCrunch
- The New York Times
- CNBC
- NBC
- Breitbart
- The Big Newsletter
- Naked Capitalism
- JPML
- Codex
- US Department of Defense
- Claude
- GPT-5.6 Sol
- GPT-6 Astra
- Lean
Locations
- New York University
- Brown University
- UCLA
- Iraq
- Iran
- United States
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- New Mexico
- Texas
- Los Angeles
- Middle East
- Egypt
- Central Asia
- South Asia
- West Asia
- Chicago
- Washington, D.C.
- Munich
- Ukraine
- Gaza
- China
- Israel
- Lebanon
- United Arab Emirates
- Silicon Valley